


Widomauk Multiverse - The First Chapter

by LittleLimey



Series: maybe in another universe [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Multiverse Shenanigans, love is a universal constant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 10:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19743952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLimey/pseuds/LittleLimey
Summary: Mollymauk and Caleb find themselves trapped underground. It is temporary, which they don't know, but someone has put events into motion to pull them in to assist in a daunting task - to travel across the multiverse and close a series of rifts that are threatening to unravel the planes of existence.The reasoning is.....something they have yet to understand, but more importantly it may have to be something they will need to understand in order to be successful in their mission.-This is the introduction chapter to the Widomauk Multiverse collection, before this pair moves on to universes created by other authors.





	Widomauk Multiverse - The First Chapter

**Author's Note:**

> This occurs in the 'canon' Critical Role plot timeline around the point they leave Zadash for the first time and before the Iron Shepherds. So Caleb and Mollymauk are still at Level Five.

By chance of fate, strange fate, twisted and plucked at, Mollymauk and Caleb were stuck.

Caleb’s hands scratched at the new wall that had descended from the mine ceiling, cutting him and Molly off from the rest of the Nein. The rockfall, mixed with dirt and clay and pebbles, remained absolute. He was aware of Mollymauk scrabbling along with him, some sense of desperation to the tiefling’s movements, and he was aware of very little else unfortunately. No sound of the others digging through from the other side, or from below perhaps. 

“Come on”, Caleb hissed through gritted dirty teeth. “Scheisse, come on.” 

“Caleb!” Nott’s voice echoed through his ear into his head, and his hands stilled as he turned all his attention to her voice. “Caleb! Are you alive? Please respond to this message. You can respond to this message.”

“I am alive, Nott”, Caleb replied aloud, and Mollymauk paused in his digging as well.

“Is Yasha there?”, he snapped in question, words nervous. “Are the others alright? Did they manage to avoid it?”

“How are you lot fairing on the other side?”, Caleb asked, sending his own Message through a copper wire dug out from a pocket.

“We’re all fine. Beau got knocked around a bit, but she’s okay, just bruised and cussing more often than normal which is a surprise. Ow!” It was far too easy to see the monk poking Nott for her comment. That was good. Caleb stood, waiting for a few seconds, knowing the Message cantrip needed time to recover. Nott was ahead of him though.

“Listen, we’re going to try and dig you out though. The fall is super thick though, Fjord thinks we should get help from the village. You can respond to this message.” 

Getting help was good, anything to get them out of this dark hole. The village wasn’t too far at least, only an hour away. Caleb did not see death in the choking asphyxiation of a mine as a worthwhile death for all he has still to do, and he could see the nervousness in Mollymauk’s eyes and stance and he knew they needed to get Molly out of here. 

“Mollymauk, they are trying to dig through. However the rockfall was very dense, and Fjord wants to get more help from the village”, Caleb relayed the information to Molly. He could see the idea of waiting disagreed with the tiefling immediately, his tail winding around his waist. “I do not know if it would take longer for them to do this by themselves, or if it will be faster and safer with more people.” 

Caleb stood by and watched while Mollymauk considered it. The tail uncurled, twitched like a cat with a puzzle (Caleb already missed Frumpkin very painfully), before finally curling itself up around his ankle. 

“I don’t want another rockfall”, Mollymauk said, placing a hand on the dirt wall in front of them. “And we won’t get far digging by hand, especially in our states. I can wait a while longer, especially since I’m not alone.”

“I’m glad you are positive about potentially having company in your grave.”

“And you need to cheer up a touch. Our friends will get us out of here.” Within a matter of moments, Mollymauk’s attitude had worked itself back into existence, and Caleb wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for it. Shaking his head slightly, he raised the copper wire and Messaged Nott, telling her they could wait for the extra help. Her reply in return was tinged with worry, but told him they were going to get the help, and leave Beau and Jester behind.

And then silence.

Caleb sat himself down with his back to one of the side walls, and was content at least that Mollymauk settled himself down beside him. Not close enough to drape himself over the wizard as he tended to do with the others, but close enough that Caleb could see him in the dim light of the remaining Dancing Light. 

“I don’t suppose this is the moment where we spill our darkest secrets?”, Mollymauk spoke up after a few minutes. Caleb could practically hear the waggle of eyebrows in his tone, and desperately wished for divine intervention to ferry him out of this situation. “Maybe confess our true love?”

“I want my cat back.”

Mollymauk huffed quietly, and he did a good job at hiding his disappointment at Caleb’s dry end-of-conversation response. Pulling his tarot cards out, he began to idly shuffle them. What would they tell him if he decided to draw one? His fingers hesitated on the deck, before he put them away. Better not tempt fate on that.

Leaning back, he rested his head on the dirt behind him. He didn’t like this. It was too quiet. The air was too empty and thin. And it was heavy.

Wait.

“Caleb”, Mollymauk said quietly. The other sat up slowly, noticing it as well. 

The world around them had paused in its breath. It sat. Waiting. Anticipating. Preparing. The air was heavy and heavier and the molten white light was too bright and brighter and 

The world exhaled.

And there was another person in the mine tunnel with them, as if he’d always been there. Mollymauk could only guess it was a man from the stature, the broad shoulders and square chin. Everything else was buried under robes of violet and patterned with symbols of space and arcana and items that looked like the strange item in Jester’s haversack. Layers of scarves sat on his shoulders and neck, but they warped the air around them, a couple of them floating astray without any care for the pull of the earth. A hood covered his head, beside the face, which wore a mask that was

Indescribable

Unmentionable

Painful

Beautiful

And under that mask was a soft smile that radiated down on the two that had stood rapidly to their feet.

“Caleb Widogast”, the figure said, raising a hand to the wizard. “Mollymauk Tealeaf.” The other hand raised to the tiefling. “It has been a long time. And no time at all.”

“Lovely, charmed, who the fuck are you?”, Mollymauk responded.

“I am a traveller, and a keeper, and a protector”, the figure said. “You may just call me Keeper for now.” 

“That did not really answer our question”, Caleb said. His fingers were digging into one of his pockets, searching for his Chromatic diamond or something else that would stop this being without burning away the air down here. It was strange - even while he moved he felt like he would never be able to stand up this person, this Keeper.

“I have given you a name. I come with a task”, Keeper replied. A book dropped from empty air into his hand, and he leafed over pages, many many pages. “I am an interdimensional traveller, I watch over the various universes that exist around us. Whenever you make a choice, another universe exists. You’ve seen this, yes?” He nodded to Caleb, and Caleb thought of the infinite void and the motes of light that webbed around his being. 

“There is a problem though. The multiverse, the space that holds all universes, is fracturing. A mistake was made and now it must be fixed. But it must be done by people with the power to heal a severance of this magnitude”, the Keeper continued. Mollymauk had slipped from his defensive stance, but his red eyes remained narrowed and confused at the man. 

“And, what, you went with us?”, he scoffed.

“Yes, yes I did. Perhaps not in the finest way, but I did not have quite the right time”, Keeper explained. He paused on a page, tapping it. “Yes, right there. I changed what was written for you. Right now you should technically be on the road from Zadash up north-” Under the mask, a brief grimace. “-I don’t like that tale. Still, sloppy work indeed, but it worked, no?”

Caleb and Mollymauk had no response. Their minds were still in the process of understanding what was occurring. 

“I am still unsure about you choosing us for people of power”, Caleb explained. “I am not a powerful wizard.” 

“And I’m a carnie”, Mollymauk chimed in.

“There are an incredible spread of universes within the multiverse”, Keeper said. Little shards of glass seemed to appear at his head. Faces and lights shone from within. All the while he paged through his book. “Many people are bound by fate to meet in these universes. Some are tied fall in love. But you two…..every universe you meet, you fall in love.” 

The book snapped shut and the glass exploded out around Keeper, filling the tunnel with scenes of people and places. Things that Caleb and Mollymauk couldn’t describe, metal boxes on wheels, clothes they’d never seen, lights and colours but no sounds. 

They could see their friends now, there was a Beau in one corner in some sort of tank top with a Caleb in a warm knitted sweater. There was a Fjord and a Jester, stood on the side of a ship. There was a Mollymauk and a Yasha, Molly even more gaudy and painted than normal. Everywhere, everywhere. Caleb. Mollymauk. Mollymauk. Caleb. Caleb. Molly. Caleb. Molly. Caleb with golden scales and fish tail underwater in a shipwreck. Caleb in some sort of library in a uniform and apron. Mollymauk on a stage surrounded by multicoloured lights. Mollymauk with longer hair plaited with flowers. Caleb and Beau, Mollymauk and Yasha, Mollymauk and Jester, Caleb and Yasha. 

Caleb. Alone.

Mollymauk. Alone.

And then Caleb  _ and _ Mollymauk. Caleb and Mollymauk on a white sand beach. Caleb and Mollymauk in a shop, drinking from mugs. Caleb and Mollymauk curled up together on a sofa. Caleb and Mollymauk, a tiefling tail wound around a partially scarred wrist. Caleb and Mollymauk, laughing with fond expressions. Caleb and Mollymauk, noses touching in their closeness. Caleb and Mollymauk, unbearably in love. 

Caleb and Mollymauk stared at the scenes around them. Caleb, his arms drawn up to his chest as something cold worried at his gut while something warm bubbled up at the sight of such love toward someone so terrible. Mollymauk, his eyes no longer frowning and instead gleaming in bemusement and amazement. 

“I am personally convinced that this is all a terrible hallucination caused by asphyxiation”, Caleb commented, reaching up to prod at one of the glass shards and blinking when the scene on it changed to….oh, no, no thank you. He prodded it quickly, and it changed just as promptly to his relief. 

Standing to the side, Keeper watched them, or Mollymauk assumed he was watching them. It felt impossible to tell. His arms were folded, and he seemed to be waiting for a response.

“....Okay”, Caleb said, waving a hand of dismissal as if that would waft away the scenes of him kissing Molly from in front of him. “So you say we are powerful because of this. What would you ask of us?”

“There are rifts littered between several universes. They need to be sealed before they rupture further and begin a collapse. You need to carry this out, the two of you, whilst keeping yourselves hidden from the residents of each universe”, Keeper explained. 

“What does a rift look like-” Mollymauk barely finished his question before his words were swallowed by the plane around them rending itself open, a hole splitting forth in the air behind Keeper. Beyond, Caleb could only see stars. Even the edges were not quite light and not quite burning darkness. Mollymauk let out a low whistle. 

“You must use this to seal them”, Keeper said, raising his hands and now there was a…..a stone object of some kind. Some old relic, shaped in curves and circles to form a lock, if a lock was half the size of Caleb’s chest. But when he lifted it himself, and Molly quickly stepped forward to take the weight, (because it was made of  _ stone _ , it had to be heavy) there was no weight to it. 

“What happens if we say no?”, Caleb asked.

“You die. Either here in this tunnel, or out there, when all universes collapse in on themselves.” Keeper tilted his head, a decisive finality in his tone. Molly and Caleb looked to each other, looked to make some kind of decision. There wasn’t one, to be fair.

“Well, I think I’m persuaded”, Mollymauk said. He moved his hand away from the relic, and half of it split off, settling itself in the palm of his hand. At this point though, he was up to his teeth in magic bullshit, what did a little more add to it. Stepping forward, he joined Keeper at the rift. 

Caleb hesitated.

This was power. This was  _ great _ power, something unheard of to him, something never even glimpsed in the books he’d read. This was something entirely beyond him, and he needed it like he needed the next breath of fresh air. Taking this power to his fingertips, then maybe...maybe he could change things. He stepped forward too, pocketing his part of the relic. Keeper gestured, and the two men stepped through the rift. As Caleb passed through, he heard Keeper whisper to him, “Do not make the same mistakes I did.”  


Then the tunnel was empty. Divine intervention had indeed come through and ferried Caleb away from the situation. However, he was not yet sure if it was a good intervention. That much was yet to be seen. 


End file.
